I made this cake for my cousin’s son, Daniel, for his second birthday.  Daniel absolutely adores going to the zoo, and he loves all the animals, but his absolute favourite is the giraffes.  I decorated the cake with green sugarpaste leaves, and handmade a baby giraffe, mother giraffe, elephant and a sleeping lion – all from modelling paste.  I made the baby giraffe sitting down, and the mother giraffe peeking out at him through the tops of the trees.  I love how this cake turned out… and have a particular soft spot for the little giraffe   However, they are all completely edible – and Daniel had no problem with biting his little head off!!

The cake itself was a 6-inch vanilla sponge, filled with vanilla buttercream and covered with vanilla buttercream and sugarpaste.